The proposal will be a disaster for both parents and schools.

As both a member of the education community and the parent of a special ed child I can see no good coming of the proposed changes.

As a member of the education community I know that we need as much parental involvement as possible with our students. The special needs child needs to know that their family supports them and are willing to help them in any way possible to overcome the obsticles they face in their education as well as social needs.

As with children whose abbilities range from gifted and tallented to a child with aspergers and other special needs I know that parental involvement is an absolute must for both child and parent. My participation in both the CERT and IEP process have enabled me to know and understand the needs of my children and the processes necessary to help them become independent productive members of this society. Until recently my husband and I thought that our eldest was going to be dependent on us and society for the rest of her life because she can't seem to fit in both in the job market and social world. Her teachers and staff at her school began asking questions and throught the CERT process this year it was determined that she has aspergers. The teachers and administration at her school have shown us what is necessary for her to learn and develope the skills that we have been unable to accomplish over 17 years of parenting.

Had we been left out of this process we would still be looking at our daughter as a stubron, emotional, volitile, lazy and unconcerned. A child who is normally very loving but can turn on a dime and be out of control and unreasonable. The psychologists, psychiatrists, neurologist and other medical professionals were of no help. It took a group of loving and concerned teachers and adiminstrators, at our alternative school to spend a month teaching her to realize what the problem was and start the process in getting her the help she needed.

Her academic and social progress has been amazing and we all now have hope that she can one day become a productive member of this society. Had he father and I not been involved in this process and learned along how to help her, I do not believe that her prognosis would be positive.

You must keep parents involved, even those we must force to be involved in this process, or these children will fall through the cracks and end up being a lost generation.